John Murphy, Philip and Lynn Straus Curator of Prints and Drawings, and Ian Shelley, Collections Curatorial Fellow, of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, were awarded an Implementation Grant by the Terra Foundation for American Art to support the reinstallation of Vassar’s Hudson River School paintings.

Since its inception in 1864, the College’s art museum has maintained an exemplary collection of 19th-century American landscapes established through a founding gift of works by artists such as Thomas Cole and Frederic Church. Paintings from this gift are at the heart of a display in the Loeb’s suite of “Founding Galleries,” celebrating the intertwined histories of Vassar, the museum, and the Hudson River School.

With the support of a Terra Research, Planning, and Development Grant, the Loeb began rethinking this collection in 2024, seeking to imagine a framework of “grounding” in which to reconsider American landscape traditions and how they are shared. With the Foundation’s continued support, the Loeb will explore how art practices reflect shifting relationships between the United States, its people, and the land it occupies in reimagining the exhibition of these works. Displays will orient visitors to the grounds around them, featuring landscapes from Vassar, its surrounding city of Poughkeepsie, and the greater Hudson Valley, as well as the founding galleries’ assets. The project will culminate in a fully illustrated catalog that will offer new scholarship and diverse perspectives on the significant group of 19th-century American landscapes that form the core of the Loeb’s collection.

The Terra Foundation for American Art, established in 1978 and having offices in Chicago and Paris, supports organizations and individuals locally and globally with the aim of fostering intercultural dialogues and encouraging transformative practices that expand narratives of American art through the foundation’s grant program, collection, and initiatives.